The National
Advancement Prize was awarded to Gintaras Karosas for establishing the open-air
museum of the Europos Parkas

The National Advancement Prize was
awarded to Gintaras Karosas

On May 28, 2006, Gintaras Karosas was pronounced
the winner of the Cultural Advancement Prize. The National Advancement Prize
was awarded to Gintaras Karosas for establishing the open-air museum of the
Europos Parkas. National Advancement Prizes have been given to people who
have merited to the advancement of Lithuania: those, whose ideas,
inventions, original solutions, world-wide achievements have contributed to
positive changes, have driven the quality of living in Lithuania and the
country’s progress forward. The Prize is intended to develop efficient ties
between the science and the business, encourage the contribution of
business, which is both mature and responsible in a civil sense, into
Lithuania’s intellectual, cultural and social advancement.

During the award ceremony, sculptor Gintaras
Karosas voiced thanks “to the people who would lend well-meant assistance
and to those, who at least would not hinder during the entire years of
developing the Europos Parkas.”

The young artist’s dream to create a museum of
modern and contemporary art became a reality. Thanks to his talent, creative
efforts and persistent work, Karosas managed to turn the desolate location
near Vilnius into a centre of attraction by placing an emphasis not on
heritage, but rather on the subject of art of this century (the Europos
Parkas was started in 1987). The personal creative initiative became a
cultural phenomenon, which has remained unexplainable for many people ridden
with stereotypical thinking. The idea of establishing a museum, a park is
usually seen as the prerogative of the state. However, the idea of the
Europos Parkas is being implemented by non-governmental organisations.

By establishing the open-air museum of the
Europos Parkas, Gintaras Karosas created a next-generation cultural
establishment that is unsupported by the national budget but earns money for
socially-beneficial activity from its services and rallies funds, companies
and people to support artistic projects. The establishment carries out the
functions of education and dissemination of culture and art; introduces the
public into the trends of modern art and into the variety of artistic
creative work; by representing high-grade contemporary art, develops the
esthetical taste of the public; arranges educational programs; strives for
publicity, takes part in international projects, represents the culture of
our country abroad and foreign culture in Lithuania; promotes cultural
tourism; expands the artistic cultural horizons of the public and encourages
creativity. By performing its important functions, an establishment like
that costs virtually nothing to the budget.

By developing the Europos Parkas, Karosas is
making a contribution to Lithuania’s integration into the global space of
cultural life. Inviting representatives of established artistic trends into
the Europos Parkas, implementing ambitious ideas by Sol LeWitt, Dennis
Oppenheim, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Beverly Pepper, he is bringing Lithuania’s
cultural life up-to-date on the international scale. The works of the above
authors that are set up at the Europos Parkas are considered among the most
prominent pieces to be ever created by these artists. Due to the continuing
interest from Lithuanian and foreign media, the Europos Parkas has become
known both in Lithuania and in foreign countries.

Karosas also contributes to enlarging the number
of showpieces at the Europos Parkas by creating sculptures of his own. One
of his most renowned works is the LNK Infotree, which has been
entered into the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s largest piece of
work of the kind.

On top of that, Karosas plays yet another
significant part – that of a landscape designer, as the Europos Parkas is a
valuable piece of landscape architecture. The Europos Parkas is being
developed as a homogenous ensemble of nature and art, where the sum is
indisputably larger than the individual pieces. By altering the landscape in
a subtle manner and placing the sculptures on a well-measured display,
Karosas is shaping a unique tune of nature and art in the Europos Parkas.
For this reason, the Europos Parkas merges quite naturally with the context
of the most celebrated European sculpture parks and open-air art museums.
That is the only location in Lithuania that has been entered, on the 30th
place, into the list of top 50 places of interest in Europe by Great
Britain’s The Independent. Europos Parkas is listed among such places
as the Picasso museum in Paris, the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam, the Marino
Marini museum in Florence, the Munch museum in Oslo.

In Lithuania, the ideas of cultural tourism often
relate to objects of cultural heritage, the fostering of traditions, while
the founding of the Europos Parkas has proved that things that are being
created today can be just as relevant and valuable as something that was
designed by past generations. By displaying the problems and reflecting the
world of today, contemporary art bears immense significance for the modern
society.

Gintaras Karosas hopes that the award of the
National Advancement Prize, as an honourable acclaim of his work, will help
draw people’s attention to the important social initiatives that have been
so far short of governmental interest and support.